Estate planning as a Panera account holder

MyPanera is Panera Bread's loyalty program, and since the August 19, 2026 terms it is points-based nationwide with three tiers: MyPanera, MyPanera+, and MyPanera+ Sip Club. Members earn 10 points for each verified $1 food or beverage subtotal purchase, can start redeeming for select free menu items at 250 points, accrue no more than 50,000 points, and lose all points after 180 days without Active Membership. Points and rewards are purely promotional, have no cash value, and do not constitute property of the member. The estate-relevant asset is the account plus any paid MyPanera+ Sip Club subscription, a recurring beverage subscription billed monthly or annually to the payment method on file. Points end with the member; the Sip Club subscription keeps billing until someone cancels it.

Panera points are forfeited at death under the program's terms. The terms explicitly state that points are not the account holder's property and cannot be inherited, transferred by will, or assigned through any estate planning mechanism.

What happens at death

MyPanera points and rewards are forfeited. Panera's Terms of Use, in the Additional Terms for MyPanera Program, state that "Your MyPanera membership is personal to you and may not be sold, transferred or assigned to, or otherwise shared with, family, friends or others, or used by you for any commercial purpose," and that "Only one MyPanera account is permitted per person and is personal to you." The same terms now carry a flat non-transfer clause: "Points, membership tiers, rewards, and benefits may not be gifted, purchased, sold, bartered, brokered, or otherwise transferred." On the character of the balance they state: "Your MyPanera account, Points, rewards, and benefits available in the Program have no cash value, are not redeemable for cash, gift certificates, or gift cards, are purely promotional, and do not constitute property of any participant." Termination is absolute: "In the event that your participation in the MyPanera Program is terminated, then all accumulated Points and rewards in your account are void." There is no beneficiary designation. Panera's terms do not address death anywhere, so the forfeiture outcome follows from the personal, one-account-per-person, non-transferable, no-cash-value, not-property and termination-voids-everything provisions rather than from an explicit death clause. Points also lapse on their own: "All Points will expire after 180 days without Active Membership," where Active Membership means making a valid purchase linked to the account, redeeming Points, or redeeming a Sip Club beverage. The paid MyPanera+ Sip Club subscription is the one item with real money attached: per the Sip Club Subscription Terms and Conditions it automatically extends for successive monthly or annual periods at the then-current fee and keeps charging the payment method on file until it is cancelled. Cancellation must be submitted at least 24 hours before the start of the next Billing Cycle, benefits run through the end of the current cycle, and Panera states that "you will not be entitled to a prorated refund of any unused portion of the Subscription Monthly Fee or Annual Fee."

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